Stowing and lowering and raising ships&#39; boats.



W. J. GREBNFIELD.- sToWING AND LOWBRING AND RAISING sHIPs BOATS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 20. 1912.

1,059,148. l Patented Apr. 15,1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

III

A, Af"

@9M .GL- @ma f Znzzaam iff/@fee I W. J. GBBENFIEL-D. sToWING AND Low-:RING AND RAISING SHIPS BOATS.

I v APPLICATION FIL'ED JUNE 20. 1912. 1,059,148i Patented A131115, 1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

commun l'LANume/nm cu., WASHINQT'UN, n. c,

W. J. GREENFIELD.

STOWING AND LOWERING AND RAISING SHIPS BOATS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE. zo. 1912.

1,059, 14:8. Patented Apr. 15,'1913.

l 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3. QJ Q.)

n A l rzg L'OLUMBIA lLANoaRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, D4 c.

W. J. GRBENPIELD. STOWING AND LOWERING AND RAISING SHIPS BOATS.

.APILIGATION FILED JUNE 20. 1912. 1,059, 148.

v wenlbr wah/e Zzr//z'm freen Zd da rv; egg

Patented Apr. 15, 1913.,

lWIllIil'iIAlVll JOHN GREENFIELD, OF WATERFORD, IRELAND.

STOWING AND LOWERING AND RAISING SHIPS BOATS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led .Tune 20, 1912. Serial No. 704,793.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I,W1LLIAM JOHN GREEN- FIELD, master mariner, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 12 The Quay, Waterford, Ireland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Connected with Stowing and Lowering and Raising Ships Boats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that type of structure andapparatus in which ships boats are stowed in multiple side-by-side fore and aft on athwartship plane so that they can be launched successively one after the other, and on either side of the ship.

A structure and apparatus according to my invention comprises a frame or platform provided with a railway, and placed athwartship on the deck or super-deck of a ship, and carried centrally by trunnions or a shaft having bearings on entablature brackets or the like. This frame is supported at each end by screw-jacks, hydraulic-rams or the like, which hold the frame in a horizontal position when in its normal condition, and by which the frame'can be canted or caused to rock over to the port or starboard side as required. A cage-like super-structure of arch form, open at each end, and of length to correspond with the beam of the ship, is mounted, in turn, upon the aforesaid frame, and this cage is provided with wheels or the like adapted to run on the railway, and with rack and pinion or like gear by which it can be caused to move on said carrying frame or platform so as to extend suliiciently over the ships side, to port or starboard, as the case may be, to enable the boats hwhich are suspended in the cage (as hereafter described) to be lowered in succession clear of the ships side. The cage is composed of two side members, constituting runners, on which the carrying wheels are mounted, and a series of vertical arch frames of angle-iron or the like connected by horizontal bars of angle-iron 0r the like. The frames at each end of the structure are adapted to serve for attaching boat-lower-v the boats to be stowed, for example, about twenty feet, the boats being placed side-byside throughout the cage, leaving a suitable space between each boat for handling. Boat chocks are provided between the side Patented Apr. 15,1913. I

runners of the cage, `and these chocks are so hinged to, or mounted on the runner members that they will turn down as each boat is moved so as to be out of the way of the next boat in turn.

I-Iaving thus generally described the nature of my invention, I will now proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings. The example of apparatus which I have illustrated is an arrangement and construction of parts according to this invention as applied to stowing, and lowering and raising ships boats.

- In the various figures of the drawings the same parts are designated by the same letters, and they correspond with those used in the following explanation of the example.

Figure l is a side elevation of an apparatus according to my invention whereby ships boats are so carried that they can be launched from either or both sides of a ship, and so that they can be lowered in succession into the water by the same tackle, such tackle also serving for raising the boats, and Fig. 1A is a similar View on a reduced scale, showing the position of the apparatus when lowering the boats from one side only. Fig. 2 is an end view of the frame of the apparatus and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus. Fig. 2A is a detail sectional view of the boat-releasing device; and Figs. 2B and 2C are detail views in side elevation and transverse section, respectively, showing an arrangement of antifriction rollers for the boat chocks. Fi s. 3A and 3B are detail views, respectively, o a screw-jack device and ahydraulic-ram device, either of which may be employed to support the frame of the apparatus in place of the toothed quadrant standards shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3. Fig. 4f is an end elevation of one side ,of the arched frame with the internal channel rail, Fig. 5 is 'an end elevation of the boat-releasing device; and Figs. 6 and 7 are enlarged side elevations of the same. l

' With reference to the drawings, a designates the frame or platform which is placed athwartship on the deck or super-deck of a ship, and b denotes the railway provided on such frame. The frame a is carried -centrally by trunnions or a shaft c having bearings on entablature brackets d mounted on the deck of the ship. The frame a is supported at each end by toothed quadrant standards e as shown in Figs. 1, 1A, 2 and 3, or the frame a may be supported at each 'end by screw-jacks el such as shown in Fig. 8A, or by hydraulic-rams e2 such as shown in Fig. 3B. These quadrant standards e, orthe screw-jacks el, or the hydraulic-rains c2 asv the case may be, are placed on the deck of the ship so as to supporttlie frame a at each corner, and are so connected by wheel gearing or by hydraulic pipes (in the case of rains being employed) that they hold the frame a in a horizontal position when in its no-rmal condition, or are employed to cant or rock the frame over to the port or starboard side of the ship, as may be required. In the present example I will describe the action of the frame a as tted with and operated by the toothed quadrant standards e and gear sho-wn in Figs. 1, 1A, 2 and 3.

i Upon the frame a there ismounted a super-structure or cage of arch forni and of length to correspond with or about the beam of the ship; this super-structure consists of side bars or members f, which act as runners and are provided with wheels g adapted to run on'the railway b of the frame a, and to carry a cage which is formed of arched angle or like frames it fixed vertically on the side members f. At its top, and under and carried by the frames 7i, the cage is provided at each side with internal rails z' of channel form adapted to receive pendantcone or like runners or trolleys 7c provided with screw shackles or the like 701,' by which v the bo-ats A are suspended from the rails i within the cage. The frame a and the super-structure cage is constructed of width to correspond with the length of the boats A.

The frames h1 at each end of the cage are adapted to serve for attaching boat-lowering tacklel as hereafter described.

Vith reference to Figs. 1, 1^, and 3, m designates the boat chocks which are located between the side members f of the cage. These chocks m are mounted in pairs at opposite sidesvof the boat in such a manner that by actuating the levers n they will be moved away from the boat and turned down as each boat is moved, so that the chocks of the first boat to be moved will be out of the way of the next boat in turn to be moved. They may be of any well known suitable type, and since they form no specific part of the invention, they are not described nor illustrated in detail. The frame a is held in its normal position and caused to rock over to the port or starboard side by means ofl the toothed pinions al which gear into the Y teeth of the toothed quadrant standards e,

the pinions being worked by means of the gear shaftingci?v and the hand gear a3. Y

The side members f are each provided with a toothed rack 22 into which gears a toothed pinion i worked by the shafting i and the hand gear r2. This gear is employed to move the members f together with the cage and the boats out to the port side or the starboard side of the ship as may be required to launch the boats, see, for example, the position shown in Fig. 1^.

To act as a guide and to hold the members f on to the rails b, I provide stirrup links f1 which are mounted on the tiunnioiis or shaft c and straddle the aforesaid members; these links may be also fitted to act as friction brakes to hold the members f in any required position.

Tlie boat-loweriiig tackle Z may be of any known type of block and tackle gear, and may be attached to the frames h1 or to the ends of the rails z' with the fall leading to a winch on the members f or to a winch on the ships deck, or the height of the outside frames h1 may be increased so that they project above the inside frames la. Outside the frame h1 I provide a canting frame h2 which is pivoted or hinged to the extreme ends of the side bars or members f at 71,3, and is provided with guide sockets h4 into whichslide the ends of a cross-bar s. On this cross-bar s I provide short channel rail sections @l which, when the canting frame h2 is in a vertical position, coincide with the main channel rails t'. These Channel rail sections 1 are inclined outwardly at the base and provided with releasing tumblers 2 hinged to and working within the channel rail sections 1, as shown in detail in Figs. 5, G and 7. These tuinblers li2 hold the trolleys 7c with the screw shackles L1, by which the boats A are suspended, wit-hin each channel rail section 1 when the boat has been moved from the main rail into such section.

81, s1 indicatetwo levers which are ful crumed at s2, s2 on bar s and have their inner ends working in a guide r4 and resting against a stop device r3 fixed. on bar s, the levers being held in this position by a catch t1 that is pivoted centrally at t on said bar s and is operated by a line t, as represented in Fig. 2A. The outer ends s3, s of these levers press on and hold the tinnblers 2 until the said levers are released by downward pull upon line t, which action serves to disengage catch t1 from the inner ends of the levers, whereupon said ends are free to fall and the outer ends s3, s3 to rise by the weight of the boat, through the trolleys acting on and forcing up the tumblers 2, thereby allowing said .trolleys to run clear of the rail sections l and the boat, in consequence, to release itself.

u denotes a pulley shaft mounted on the `frame h2 and provided with Xed pulleys o having .ropes .or the like o1 by which the bar s is suspended, and thereby the boat A, by means of the trolleys 7c and screw shackles 701. 'v2 is a pulley fixed on the pulley shaft u and carrying the rope v3 which is led to the Winch fu, by which the gear is worked.

h5 designates an attachment on the canting frame h2 for an operating rope or the like h6 which is carried around leads k7 to,

an operating winch h2 The boat chocks m are provided wit-h antifriction rollers m1, as shown in Figs. 2B and 2C, to facilitate the turn-down movement of the checks m. With regard to the gear employed to work the rack and pinion gear, I provide a worm and.wheel gear a to work the shafting r1, and thereby the toothed pinion 7' and toothed rack p. With regard to the brake gear, I employ an independent stop device y.

In operation, assuming, for example, that a ship is on the rocks off a sea-shore, the under frame or platform is canted by means of the toothed quadrant standard gear, the screw-jacks or the hydraulic rams, so as to incline with the cage to the port or starboard side; then, by means of the rack-andpinion or like gear, the cage with the boats, is run out so as to extend over the side of the ship suiiiciently to enable the first boat of the series to be disengaged from the suspending device, and connected to and lowered by the boat tackle, after which the second boat and so on, of the series, is moved into position, connected to the boat tackle, and lowered. When lowering a boat A from the structure, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the trolleys la and screw .shackles 1.11 carrying the boat are run into the short channel rail sections 1 provided on the cross-bar s of the canting frame h2, the canting frame h2 is then lowered to the required eXtent by means of the rope k", and the cross-bar s with'the trolleys k and sections z'l carrying the boat, is then released from the canting frame h2 and lowered to the desired extent by means of the ropes o1; then,lby pulling on the line t which actuates the releasing levers s1, the boat with the trolleys 7c and screw shackles k1 falls clear, after which the canting frame 7a2 is elevated to its norlnal position, and the ends of the crossbar s with the channel rail sec tions 1 take their normal place in their guide sockets t* and the canting frame h2 is then in condition to receive a second or following boat which is lowered and released in like manner.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is An apparatus of the character specified comprising, in combination, a pivotally mount-ed platform disposed athwartship on the deck of a ship and provided with a longitudinal track; means for canting said platform to starboard or port; a traveling cage mounted upon said track for movement thereon to starboard or port when said platform is canted, said cage being adapted to contain a plurality of boats arranged side by side and being provided with rails and trolleys from which said boats are suspended; and tackle for lowering and rais` ing said boats.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM JOI-IN GREENFIELD.

Vitnesses FREDERICK JOHN CHEESBROUGH, KATHLEEN MORRIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

